Washington Square (composition)

"Washington Square"
Single by The Village Stompers
from the album The Original Washington Square
Released 2 October 1963
Format 7" (45 rpm)
Recorded 1963
Genre Pop, Dixieland jazz, instrumental
Label Epic
Songwriter(s) Bobb Goldsteinn, David Shire
Producer(s) Joe Sherman
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"Washington Square" is a popular instrumental from 1963 by the New York City-based jazz group The Village Stompers.

Named after the famous park in New York City,[1] "Washington Square" became a hit single on 23 November 1963, when it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,[2] kept from the summit by Dale and Grace's hit song "I'm Leaving It Up to You"[3] during the week that President Kennedy was assassinated. It did, however, top the Billboard Easy Listening chart for three weeks that November[1] and made the top 30 on the Billboard R&B chart. In addition, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Instrumental Theme.

Other artists have recorded the song, sometimes as a vocal track. Among these acts are The Ames Brothers (without Ed Ames; their last national chart record), the Kirby Stone Four, Percy Faith, Lawrence Welk, Kenny Ball, Spike Jones, James Last, Chinese Man, Nightmares on Wax, Andre Kostelanetz, Kai Winding, The Ventures, Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra, and The Dukes of Dixieland.[1][4] In Asia, a South Korean female vocalist band Lee Sisters released a recording of this tune.[5] Hong Kong Cantopop artist Samuel Hui also released a recording of the tune in Cantonese, with lyrics regarding students.[6]

"Washington Square" shares the same metre as many popular hymns, known as 86.86D or CMD [Common Metre doubled]. In the 1970s, some churches were singing hymns such as "The Lord Is My Shepherd" and "Amazing Grace" to the tune.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  3. ↑ Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of #1 Hits, 5th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 140.
  4. ↑ ASCAP. "ACE Title Search." http://www.ascap.com/index.aspx Note: must enter song info @ ASCAP site
  5. ↑ "정시스터즈 워싱턴광장 1965". YouTube.
  6. ↑ "【一日一經典】廣東話歌神許冠傑：命裏有時終須有 - 明周娛樂". 明周娛樂 (in Chinese). 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2018-06-02.


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